Day of the Bug Art Ninja

I'm Ricky. I live in Bristol.

By day, I work as an animator, which is lucky,

cos I love art.

I live for art.

I even dream of art.

I draw...

..I paint...

..I make things.

I hang out with my mates, Gavin, Michelle and Sarah.

Argh...!

Most importantly, I make ninja moves.

Some people call me the...

..Art Ninja!

Today, I'll show you how to make a nose-shaped tissue dispenser

that'll blow your socks off.

My dad helps me with an eye-popping drawing,

plus it all gets a bit spooky when I do some underground art.

Because today, it's...

ALARM BEEPS

Achoo!

It's a new day.

Time to get my ninja on.

And my clothes.

But today, I might need to pull a sickie.

I feel so sketchy.

Achoo!

Oh, but I can't be ill.

I've got to meet my friend Michael later

to do some fluorescent art with lights.

PHONE RINGS

'Hi, it's Mum!

'Hope you're OK. You're often sick at this time of year.'

She's not wrong.

And by sick, she doesn't mean good.

Mum's cool, but she's not that cool.

-Hi, Ricky!

-Hi, Dad.

-Mum's really worried about you.

-I know. She's still on the phone.

RICKY'S MUM BABBLES ON THE PHONE

She sent me round with a hot-water bottle.

And I've got some tissues for you as well.

Whoa, keep your distance! I don't want you to catch my cold.

-Can you throw me a tissue?

-Sure.

-Oh, can't open them! Can you help me, please?

-Yeah, sure.

Achoo!

Achoo!

You're going to have to stay in quarantine now.

Well, you might as well put the kettle on.

Blowing your nose...

SNOT fun, is it? And I've got some art that can help you with that.

The Art Ninja nose-shaped tissue dispenser!

It's great and I'm SNOT kidding!

I've got a big piece of cardboard

and I'm going to draw around a tissue box.

I'm going to roll it up onto its end towards me.

Now, I'm going to draw around the edges of three sides.

And then, on the edges here,

I'm going to draw the profile of a nose, nice and big.

It's important to make these match. So, once you've cut it out,

you can fold it in half and make sure they're symmetrical.

Then, I'm going to draw around my box here

and make a strip of card

one-and-a-half times the length of the tissue box.

There! Looks about half again.

Now I'm going to cut them out.

Snippy-snippy...

Now you need to score along these lines

and I'm going to use a ruler for that.

It's a bit safer than using scissors.

I'm scoring so I can fold these parts of cardboard back more easily.

Turn it over.

Just see if the tissue box fits inside.

There we go, perfect!

It needs to have a little bit of wiggle room so you can take it out.

Now, this strip is going to be the bridge of the nose

and the underside here.

And what have you got here?

Nostrils.

So, we need to cut some holes in this strip, just a couple of ovals.

And if you've got square nostrils, by all means, draw square ones.

Or even triangular.

Now I'm going to put a bit of clay behind them.

Use a pencil to make a hole, so I can get my scissors in there.

Now I can start taping it together.

That's just going to hold it together while we put the bridge on.

OK, it's shaping up pretty well.

Now I'm going to stick some balls of newspaper on either side,

so it looks more like a nose.

There we go...

Right.

I'm going to cover it in a couple of layers of paper-mache,

so I've got a bowl of PVA glue and water mix,

two parts glue, one part water

and a nice pile of newspaper.

Paper-macheing, quite messy.

So, you should put some extra newspaper down first.

OK, good. Looking nice and covered.

Now, if you're doing this at home,

you'll need to wait for it to dry.

But I'm going to use my ninja skills.

Great, paper-mache's dry, nice and hard.

Now I'm going to do my nose, so I have the right colour paint here.

Mix up some colours to get the skin tone right for you.

Great, that's all covered.

Now you'll need to wait for yours to dry.

But I wait for nothing, I'm the Art Ninja!

Oh, look at that!

Took so long to dry, it's grown a moustache.

I've also added some detail here,

just to accentuate the nostrils.

And I've pierced the hole in the back

and put a bit of string to hang it up.

Now let's slide in our tissues...

SNEEZY does it.

Oh, yeah!

SNOT bad, that.

Ha-ha! Said "snot" again.

Achoo!

The nose-shaped tissue dispenser.

Have a blow at it today. I mean, go.

Achoo!

-Dad, you put the kettle on yet?

-No, I'm disinfecting.

-I hope you're wearing gloves, that's some strong stuff.

-Of course.

I've got your lilac gloves with floral cuffs.

They're not mine. Someone must have left them here.

I'm pretty sure that picture moves on its own.

It's almost as if...it's animated.

Oh, no...! Should I call an ambulance?

No, it's just an animation. A crumby one!

And you can make an awesome dunk stunt

with a pack of yummy biscuits, a cup of tea, some bendy wire,

some strong sticky tape and a camera.

And you can put it together in just three ninja moves.

Ninja move number one...

You need to set up your scene.

Now, I'm using this coffee table as my backdrop.

I've got myself a cold cup of tea here, ready to go.

And now I can start doing my animation.

So, I need to take a shot each time

my biscuit climbs up to the top

to jump off and do its death-defying stunt.

I need to make sure that these biscuits here

react when he's getting ready to jump,

because there's quite a lot of suspense in this.

So, every time I move the pink biscuit a tiny amount,

I take a photo and then, when I edit all the photos together,

it'll make it seem like they've moved.

Obviously, I have to eat a few wafers as I go. It's only fair!

Ninja move number two...

It's time for the death-defying stunt,

so I need to attach some wire to the back of my biscuit.

And I'm using some sticky tack, along with some strong black tape.

And then, I need to attach the other part of the wire

to this tin up here.

And I'm going to conceal where it's actually attaching to it.

Get him into position.

And then I'm going to move the camera

so I can hide where it's attached to the back of the biscuit.

There we go, sneaky-sneaky.

Now, I've hidden where it attaches to it.

It means it's easier to paint it out.

So, take a couple of shots.

Now I'm going to take this out of the way

and I'm going to shoot a clean picture

without the biscuit or the wire in it.

And this is known as a plate.

It means that I can paint out the wire afterwards

and make it look like the biscuit's really doing a stunt.

It's always good to get a mate to help out.

This is my mate, Rich.

Ninja move number three...

Compile your frames in an animation app.

There's loads of free editing apps, like the one I'm using,

available online for your PC or tablet.

Now, I've painted out all the wire, I've added some sound effects,

and I think it's time to take a look at the finished piece.

CRUMB roll, please...

Oh?

Ah-ha...!

Oh?

Ah...!

Urgh!

DRUM ROLL

Yippee...!

Urgh!

Oh...

Argh!

MUNCHING

Argh...!

Oh, yeah.

It looks well good. Looks just like he's doing a stunt dive.

I think it looks so good, I'm going to make another one.

Oh...!

They're all gone.

PHONE RINGS

'Hi, Ricky! It's Mum!'

It's your mum!

-I know.

-'Your dad must still be there.

'I hope he's not caught your cold.

'Ah-ah-achoo!

'Oh, seems like I've caught it, too.'

Wow. That fibre-optic phone line really is powerful.

'Anyway, if your dad is there,

'you can tell him that all this is still to come....

'Optical illusions may lead to confusion

'when you add to your body of work,

'you book in some painting with a library card

'and make some truly underground art that is a real highlight.

'Ricky, get well soon and send Dad home soon.

'Please, don't involve him in your Art Ninja nonsense. Bye!'

Of course not, Mum.

-Hey, Dad, can you help me with something?

-Yeah, love to.

I've got a germ of an idea.

-Achoo!

-Urgh!

Sorry. I'm going to need some felt-tip pens for this.

Let's just check if these ones are all working.

Draw a line there.

That's nice. Nice orange one.

Yeah, going all right.

Yeah, going strongly. Great.

Dad, can you draw around me with this pencil?

I'd love to.

On this massive piece of paper?

-Yeah, go on, then.

-Cool.

If you can take the end of that...

Right, going to lay down.

Start drawing around me, then.

This is the kind of art I like.

I'm feeling a bit poorly today, so it's good to lay down.

That tickles!

Tickles!

Nearly there.

This is weird. This is weird.

Weird.

-All done.

-Great.

Oh, yeah.

You can't see it properly yet, but now...

I want to do some freaky art, inspired by artist Bridget Riley.

She was famous for pictures like this. It's called op art.

Op for optical illusion.

I hope you're not copying me, Ricky!

In the '60s, people copied me in both art and fashion

and I got very angry.

It's all right, Bridget. Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

So, I'm drawing a nice line across here.

Why are you doing this?

I want to turn this 2D image of me into a 3D piece of op art.

So, at the moment, drawing lines across,

keeping them pretty much parallel to each other.

And then, when I hit one of the lines here from our drawing,

I'm going to raise it up,

to try and make it look like it's raised up off the paper.

I see what you're doing now.

Now I... Pay close attention, Dad!

-Cos in a minute, you're going to have to help me.

-OK.

I've hit the pencil line, so I can do a bump.

Tell me when I can start, then.

Be patient, I'm nearly there.

We're trying to get it on, so we can both do it at the same time.

In Bridget Riley's abstract work,

she liked to use strips of high-contrasting colour.

-So, why don't you get started on the next one?

-OK.

Now, we're going to put two new lines in between here.

So, when you draw your red line,

-make sure you leave room for the last colour.

-OK.

And do straight along.

-Try and keep it as parallel to my lines as possible.

-Yes.

And then, when you hit the line you drew around me,

just raise it up, like this

and make it look like it's 3D.

-OK.

-Don't let me down.

I wouldn't dare.

Lots of people say that Bridget Riley's work

made them feel a little bit sick.

But, seeing as I'm already feeling poorly,

I think it's fine if I'm doing it.

Right, I might start doing the red from down here, too.

-I'll meet you in the middle.

-OK, sounds good to me.

If you were going to have a go at this at home,

I'd recommend starting with something small.

But, if you've got friends and family around to help you out,

go big.

Your outline drawing makes you look like a fine figure of a man.

All right, Bridget. Making me blush!

Oh, no, just running a fever...

And now, let's run the footage more quickly.

Is it making you feel a bit weird?

It's making my eyes go a bit funny.

Yeah...! Nice.

-Do you mind holding it up for me?

-Yeah, sure.

Oh, wow! That looks amazing!

-Yeah!

-Oooh...!

An optical illusion picture!

Try one yourself.

It's Bridget-Riley-good!

Oh, we're feeling a little better.

-Nearly ready to face the world.

-Ricky!

Ricky! Ricky!

I said nearly ready.

What do you guys want?

What can you make with shaving foam?

Shaving foam? I think I'll SHAVE that for another day.

Oh...!

Ricky, what can you make with a feather duster?

A feather duster? Although that TICKLES me, not right now.

Oh...!

Ricky, what can you make with these?

I pick you.

Yay...!

So, what are your names?

Hi, I'm Amelia.

-I'm Tamia.

-And I'm Jaya.

And where are you guys from?

We're from Manchester.

Awesome!

I love Manchester. So, what have you guys got for me today?

Can you make something out of old library cards?

Library cards?

I've got an idea that will get you guys shouting.

Not in a library, though. You've got to be quiet there.

Let me just grab my stuff...

I'm back.

I've got some paper, some paint, got a tissue.

I need that for cleaning up.

And my old library card.

I'm going to use my library card to make a cityscape,

by scraping paint along the paper.

Need quite a lot of it on there.

What's your favourite city?

Manchester!

Obviously.

Have thin and thick buildings.

So, I'm just scraping the paint along, using the edge of the card.

Obviously, when you do it, you can do any skyline you want.

I'm just going to keep topping up paint on the card

and turning it round to make sure I spread out the paint equally.

OK, I've got the silhouette of my cityscape done.

-Do you want to see how I'm getting on?

-Yes, please!

-Wow...!

-Think it's looking good?

-It looks cool.

-You ain't seen nothing yet.

Let's put some lights on, by using a little bit of white and yellow.

I've also got some red and blue.

I'm going to use the corner, rather than the whole thing.

Now, I'm just doing quick dashes with it.

Do some strips there.

This picture's shaping up to be a kind of New York skyline.

Lots of lights on.

It's not very good for their energy bill.

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with that. Going to add a little bit of yellow.

Just do some dashes here and there.

Going to put some red in there now, as well.

Just putting little injections of colour where there's a lot of black.

Let's go for some blue.

You can use any colour you like.

Right, I think my picture's coming together now.

Maybe this city's on, like, a river.

A little shimmer down, like that.

All the lights are reflecting in the water.

Right, I think I'm there.

Do you guys want to have a look?

Yes!

Time for the reveal...

'I can't wait to see your cityscape.'

Wow...!

What would you guys give it out of ten?

Definitely 33!

33? That's amazing!

Do you know what?

That's made me feel so much better, I think my cold's gone away.

I'm really happy with my library card cityscape.

Thanks, Amelia. Thanks, Tamia. Thanks, Jaya. Goodbye!

Bye! Thank you!

Wow! That's one pretty city!

See if you can do the same with an old library card.

Here's a quick art tip.

My nose feels too big with this cold,

so I'm going to show you how to proportion a cartoon body.

So, start by drawing four lines, equal distance apart.

And these are going to be guides.

Just done them in pencil. Grab a pen...

In the top one, I'm going to draw the head.

Cartoon characters have big heads

and this means that you can draw the body and the leg section

the same size as the head.

So, in total, your character will be three heads high.

Just draw some glasses on.

In the second area, I'm going to draw the body.

I'm going to make sure the arms are roughly the same length as the body.

Now, the legs...

And then, I'm going to draw the knees,

just halfway between the feet and the hips.

And in a few simple steps, my cartoon character is in proportion.

There's a quick art tip.

Why don't you add this to your body of work?

Hey, you there!

This guy's always on telly.

He thinks he's got the world in the palm of his hand.

Here's something you'll just have to own.

A unique piece of art.

It's a picture of your fingerprint!

I was right about the hand.

And worry not, although it's a massive fingerprint,

you won't need a big hand.

Here's how you make it...

You'll need a tray, some paper and an inkpad.

Now you need to make a fingerprint.

With a photocopier or computer,

enlarge to make the fingerprint fill an A4 page.

Gigantic!

Next, you'll need some PVA glue, with a nozzle, preferably.

You must apply the glue to the print.

Ensure you follow the lines of the fingerprint very carefully,

to make sure they are all covered.

The glue application may take some time.

Phew!

Grab some glitter and sprinkle liberally over the glued lines.

Once your print is covered with glitter,

shake off the excess glitter onto the tray.

Mesmerising!

Shaky-shaky!

Finally, get a frame and attach it to your fingerprint picture.

Perfect!

The fingerprint picture!

Available on a hand near you!

Wow! Have to get my hands on one of those.

Bye!

Oh, hey, Dad. I didn't realise you were still here.

That was your mate Michael just called.

Something about art with light...?

Oh, yeah, it's fine. I know all about that.

Oh, and it's in a cave.

A cave?

That's not good, if you've got a cold.

But you know what? I feel like I'm on the mend.

You've got a bit in YOUR cave...

Hey, I can do it myself! I'm a grown-up.

He may be a grown-up, but he's still my little Ricky.

I can hear you.

So embarrassing!

Ninja skills!

Do you know what? I'm not so sure about this cave thing.

I'm glad I brought my torch with me.

Whoa...! It's darker in here than I thought. And colder.

Achoo!

I thought I got rid of those.

Where's Michael?

Michael?

Michael!

I'm here to do some art with light!

Michael?

That was a good echo.

It was, wasn't it?

Wasn't it? Wasn't it? Wasn't it?

Wasn't it? Wasn't it?

I'm so scared right now...

And what's that over there?

Oh!

-Oh, Michael, you scared me out of my skin!

-Hey, Ricky.

You been crying?

No, no, no. I've just got a bit of a cold.

Well, let me show you something that'll send shivers down your spine.

Oh, wow!

Spooky!

That looks like a skeleton in this cave.

-I think we should go.

-Chill out, man.

It's just some light painting I've been doing.

Michael Bosanko is well-known for making art with light.

Here's some of his previous work...

-Do you want to help?

-Yeah.

We'd better get our ninja on!

Art Ninja!

Art Ninja?

Strike a pose.

OK, Michael, what is light painting?

Instead of using paint and brushes, we're using torches and light.

OK. But we don't have a canvas.

No. No, we don't.

We're going to use three-dimensional space.

So, how do we know we've made a picture?

We're going to use a camera

and any light we paint with is going to be captured on the sensor

at the back of the camera.

-So, we've got our lights...

-Yeah.

-We've got our camera...

-We have.

I guess it's time for action.

We're going to need total darkness, so turn the lights off.

Go!

Because it's so dark, we're going to use our thermal imaging camera,

so you can see from our body heat what we're doing.

We're going to be opening the exposure for a few minutes.

And then, when we're done, we'll close the exposure.

This is awesome! I'm drawing a picture in the air!

OK, I think I'm done.

OK. Lights on. Come and have a look at the result.

Ah, yeah! He came out really well.

I drew my glasses on and even though I was writing Art Ninja backwards,

it came out all right.

I think that, with your guidance,

we can do something bigger and better.

-OK, let's do it, yeah.

-Let's do it!

OK, Michael, if we're going bigger, is there anything else we need?

Yeah, we're going to need a lot more torches.

This is cool.

Yeah. I made this.

LED strips.

Lovely.

I'm going to just illuminate part of the background with this.

-Oh, wow!

-Nice?

-Love it!

Oh, yeah.

Place that somewhere on the floor in front of the camera, please.

-That's your position.

-Yep.

Let's do it.

Lights off?

Yes, please.

So, I guess this line of light you're tracing

is making a picture frame?

Indeed.

I've got a trick up my sleeve.

A secret weapon?

A secret ninja weapon.

So, what you up to there, then, Michael?

I'm drawing a skeleton.

Michael's secret weapon is gloves with lights on the fingertips.

He's using them to trace a skeleton in the air

and it's all going to be captured by his camera.

I'm going to use this red wire to create a texture along the ground.

It is a bit like painting with invisible ink, isn't it?

Yeah.

You have to try and remember where things go.

The final touch... I'm going to throw some light onto the rocks.

Oh, wow, that green background's rad!

I can't wait to see the finished picture.

And we're done.

Amazing.

So, I'm just going to turn the exposure off.

How's it looking?

Here we go...

Oh, wow!

A skeleton painting a picture of a skateboarder. It's truly rad!

Look at it, it's amazing!

And even the pillar's all lit up. It looks like he's standing right here.

Good work, Michael.

-Yeah, well done, Ricky. Excellent.

-Thanks, dude.

Well, that was a bit of LIGHT relief.

And my cold has completely disappeared.

Oh...

Michael's disappeared, too.

Michael?

Michael!

Ow! That was my foot, Ricky!

Sorry!

From lightsaber to screensaver, in just two clicks.

Today has taught me a valuable Art Ninja lesson.

If you make art in a cave, it can give you a fright.

But it's better with a friend and a handy torch light.

I'm so glad I got rid of that stinking cold.

I'm now ready for more Art Ninja adventures.

Fighting fit, in fact.

Achoo!

My cold's back!

Argh...!

To get your Art Ninja on, go to the cbbc website.

Ninja skills!